1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to electronic technology. More particularly, the present invention relates to power tracking technology.
2. Description of Related Art
In recent years, due to the increased awareness of environmental protection issues, green energy technology has been developed. Attempts are being made to combine many architectural structures and electronic products with green energy technology. An example of this is the solar notebook.
The difference between a solar panel on an architectural structure and a solar battery in a portable electronic product is related to the fact that the operating environment of a portable electronic product may change rapidly. That is, since the luminance of the light received by the solar battery of a portable electronic product is constantly changing, the solar battery in a portable electronic product must be capable of dealing with such a variance in luminance.
A solar power source is an unsteady power source, due to the changing luminance of the operating environment. The maximum power point of a solar panel is an unsteady value which varies corresponding to the luminance of the environment. Therefore, obtaining the maximum output power of a solar battery is a big challenge.
The two most common ways to track maximum power for a solar battery are to determine a point as the maximum power point and to dynamically track the real maximum power point. The method of determining a point as the maximum power point is rather simple, but results in acquiring the maximum power for only one certain environmental situation, and an ability to vary an output corresponding to changes in the environment is not possible with such a method. On the other hand, while the method of dynamically tracking the real maximum power point results in a better performance, since microcontrollers are necessary for logic determinations during dynamic tracking, much power is consumed and a longer operating time is involved, thereby limiting the application of this method.
Therefore, the defects and inconveniences associated with the maximum power point tracking methods mentioned above must be overcome, and while those in the field are working hard in this regard, a suitable way has still not been found. Hence, a solution to deal with a changing environment for a power source (e.g., a solar battery) when used for 3C (computer, communication, and consumer-electronics) products is not only an important area of research, but has also become a subject that those in relevant fields are endeavoring to improve upon.